Do not give up on God, because He does not give up on you

 

It is true that many times we forget essential things about our faith. Many of us forget that faith needs to be nourished so it does not die; life on the face of the earth is a battle (cf. Job 7:1); and that as long as we are with God, we will be targets of the devil’s attacks.

“Be sober and watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being endured by your brothers throughout the world.” (1 Peter 5:8–9)

But our reasons to continue, to persevere, to insist, persist, and never give up—to resist even to the shedding of blood—will always be greater and stronger than any reason that might push us to quit. If we are with God, victory is ours!
Even if we cannot see, feel, hear, perceive, understand, grasp, take possession of, accept, believe, or even have faith, we must remain firm until the end, to the last consequences, following the example of Christ. This is a certainty of faith.
Even if you are at such a difficult point that you can no longer believe there is a way out or a solution, let the Word of God illuminate the dark tunnel you may be passing through and generate hope in your heart.

“What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, with him, graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us! Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31–35, 37–39)

It may be that hearing people say that God loves you, that His mercy is infinite, that the love of Jesus surpasses everything, that His blood was shed for you on a cross, that God does everything for humanity and for your family—has done, is doing, and will still do many things in your life—may sound like a litany you are tired of hearing.
BUT HERE IS THE SECRET AND THE KEY WE WANT TO USE TODAY:
You do not need to be told the same thing again. You do not need to be taught what you already know. You do not need to keep hearing or reading that God does not give up on you and that you cannot give up. What you need is to experience His power, His presence, and His love!
Without this experience, everything eventually loses credibility. Without God’s strength, you will not go very far, regardless of where you are or how far you have come. Without His grace and His anointing, everything is just theory. That is why we invite you to access the posts about experience.
Saint Paul draws our attention to this theme in his letter, when he instructed the community of Corinth about food offered to idols:

“Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:1–3)

What Saint Paul writes is nothing other than the will of God, which was manifested fully in the person of Christ Jesus. When Jesus taught people about the Kingdom of God, He almost always came into conflict with the Pharisees and scribes, because they were fundamentalists and hypocrites—they pretended to live what they knew.
True knowledge is not what we have in our head, but what we have in our heart. That is why God does not give up on us: He knows we were made for heaven, for holiness, for happiness, for joy, for great things. And when He sees us wasting time on meaningless things that distance us from the purpose for which we were created, He continues to believe in us—because He knows what is inside of us.
Many people spend their entire lives deceiving themselves and trying to escape what is obvious, what is right before their eyes, what gives meaning to life, what can truly fill the heart: the presence of God. Yet how many fools try to fill the heart with things and people and therefore spend their whole lives trying to fill a void that will always remain!
NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU MOVE AWAY FROM GOD, HE WILL ALWAYS BE CLOSE TO YOU. NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU FORGET GOD, HE NEVER FORGETS YOU.
NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, HE CONTINUES TO BELIEVE IN YOU. NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU GIVE UP ON HIM, HE WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON YOU.
So, allow the grace of the Lord to be poured out upon you as you read this post. Allow God to speak to you and show you where you went wrong. Consent to what the Holy Spirit reveals to you and asks you to do, because He will always desire your good and your personal fulfilment.
Fighting against God is useless. Resisting Him is foolish. His love will always be above anything that may happen in heaven, on earth, or in hell. Of course, He always respects your free will but allow yourself to be drawn and seduced by His presence.

God did not make us for sadness. That is why Sacred Scripture teaches us that sadness has no usefulness at all, because besides not helping, it only kills us and makes us waste time.

“Do not give your soul to sadness, and do not afflict yourself with your own thoughts. Joy of heart is life to a person, and gladness prolongs one’s days. Have compassion on your own soul, make yourself pleasing to God, and be steadfast; direct your heart to holiness and drive sadness far away. For sadness has killed many, and there is no profit in it. Jealousy and anger shorten life, and anxiety brings old age too soon. A cheerful and good heart is always feasting, and its banquets are carefully prepared.” (Sirach 30:22–27)

Why does the sacred author speak of joy associated with holiness, firmness, a good heart, nobility, and what is pleasing, while sadness is associated with envy, anger, restlessness, premature aging, and death?
Because each person chooses how they want to live. If you did so out of ignorance and lived a life of sadness because you made the wrong choice, there is no way to go back—but there is a way to begin choosing joy from now on.
We will always have before us what we seek, what we desire, what we choose. If you chose to distance yourself from God because you could no longer endure it, did anything get resolved by deluding yourself in sin, indulging in what the world offers, and then falling into depression for having lost the meaning of life?
If you are sowing death, sadness, sin, misery, violence, infidelity, disgrace, poverty, laziness, envy, and whatever else comes into your head (which the devil has filled so much that you have grown used to everything the world offers), do not think that you will reap something good.
If you repent, there is love and mercy from God that welcomes you—but there is also justice and reparation that you are called to make.

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

God always asks us to make the right choice, but He always gives us the freedom to choose whatever we want: blessing or curse, joy or sadness, death or life. He does not abandon us or stop loving us because of our wrong choices, but He does not intervene unless He is called.

“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.” (Deuteronomy 30:11–15)

The truth is that many of us, out of sheer recklessness, always choose what is wrong and keep accumulating sin until we lose spiritual awareness and numb our senses with what does not please God. And then we complain that God no longer hears our prayers or does anything!
We recommend some posts on spiritual growth so that you may learn from your mistakes and stop being a spoiled child in the faith, as well as a special series on the healing of the senses.
God never judges us and knows the main reason that led us to distance ourselves from His love. Sin is always an evil that accumulates and strengthens itself, keeping us deprived of grace and captive in its chain of death (cf. Romans 3:23; 6:23). Sin is never good!
However, God is so powerful that from every evil and every sin He is able to draw good and transform it into grace, as Saint Augustine teaches us. But this is not a reason for us to become complacent and live carelessly, because we know from experience that a life of sin is not worth it.
Only with time do we realize the harm caused by such wrong choices and how difficult it was to return to God, to persevere, to renounce sin, and to finally detach ourselves from all the evil that had contaminated us.
Once we receive an injection of the Blood of Christ, a powerful dose of the Holy Spirit, a reinforcement of blessing and grace, we are strengthened against evil—but the poison of sin that remains inoculated within us must be expelled, or it will cause harm again.
Brothers and sisters, this is very serious, and many times we do not give it the attention we should—much like many people do with physical health. We can take vaccines, take precautions, and care for ourselves in every possible way, but the flu virus mutates every year and we remain vulnerable to it.
Evil, sin, sadness, the things of the world and of the devil offered to us daily always take on different forms so they are not recognized. They are presented as if they were not very harmful, as if they would not damage our health—but they are always the same lies disguised as good things. Poison in medicine bottles, as we often say here on the blog.
No one reaches the point of walking away from God—or of doing little or much at any given time—without letting things accumulate inside. It never happens overnight. It is always the result of many things that were not assimilated, not overcome, not renounced, and that in an unfortunate moment become too heavy to keep carrying.

“Remember then from what you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:5)

God’s mercy is infinite and will never cease. It is we who stop trusting in it, believing that it can completely embrace us regardless of what we have done, allowing it to act in our favor. Then we begin to think about giving up and abandoning everything because we stopped asking for mercy.
One of the most foolish things a person can do is to fall for a moment, drown in sin, and stop praying. This does not happen only to people with great roles or responsibilities—it can happen to anyone. The problem is often not what happened, but what goes through the person’s mind afterward.
Many people still live under the illusion that holiness belongs only to those who never make mistakes, never sin, never do anything wrong—as if they were incapable of failing even if they wanted to. That kind of thinking is childish and needs to be abandoned. Many give up walking with God because of nonsense like this.
All human beings fall. All sin. All make mistakes—and many mistakes—except for extraordinary exceptions such as Jesus and Mary. But thanks be to God for such a wonderful pope who taught us the secret of holiness: “A saint is a sinner who never gives up.” (Saint John Paul II)
Open your mind, broaden your horizons, let God shape and form you. Stop being closed off and ignorant. Stop worrying about the mistakes of others and start noticing your own. Stop obsessing over sin and start focusing on holiness and the love of God. If God called you, it is because He knows you.
We believe that many give up because they have never deeply experienced the love of God. For those who experience this love know that it covers a multitude of sins (cf. 1 Peter 4:8), that it gives strength, and that it surpasses even hope and faith. Charity—love—is the greatest gift of God.
Let this passage stir something within you so that we may unite in prayer:

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

The only thing capable of keeping you with God no matter the cost, no matter what happens, no matter how difficult it is, is the certainty of this perfect, infinite, wonderful, immense love. Words fail to describe the natural and supernatural love of God.
It is because He loves you so much that God does not give up on you. You are extremely important to Him. You cost the entire Blood of Christ poured out on the Cross. The 5,480 lashes Christ received. All the suffering of the Son of God—and the whole world—cannot compare to what you are worth in the eyes of God.
If God does not give up on you because He loves you so much, then when you love God with even a spark of this infinite fire of love, you too will not give up on Him. Let us pray.

“God of love and mercy… I surrender myself before the cross! How poor, wretched, sinful, unfaithful, inconsistent, a betrayer of Your love, and unworthy of it I am. I come to acknowledge my poverty and to confess my sins.
It is true that I began to drift away when that happened (tell the Lord in detail what hurt you the most, disappointed you, or made you think about—or actually give up on—belonging to God). But today I want to return. I want to begin my life anew in You, Lord! I want to repair whatever is necessary and never again think of turning back.
How terrible it was to be far from You—far from Your love, far from Your grace, Your presence, Your goodness, Your tenderness. How could I live without experiencing this marvellous love of the Lord? Now I do not want to spend even a single day of my life far from Your love, Lord!
Jesus, embrace me now and give me Your love! Make Your heartbeat within my heart. Pour out upon me the blood that washes the earth and opens heaven through Your wounds. Heal me, Lord! Touch my pains and afflictions with Your wounds and dispel all the darkness that remains within me. Remove the spiritual viruses that are within me now! Give me a powerful antidote: let a flood of power and grace gush forth over my entire being now through Your Holy Spirit.
Oh sweet Spirit of God, come upon me! Take within me the place that is Yours, from which I should never have expelled You through my sin. Come and fill my entire being, O Paraclete! Come and plead on my behalf against the accusations of the devil. Pour out upon me the gift of repentance and spiritual sensitivity. Come and convince me of how deeply I am loved and fill me with the strength of God’s love—a love that wants to knock me off the horse of pride and vanity on which I placed myself when I thought of giving up. Just as the murderer Saul was transformed through his encounter with You and became the great Apostle to the Gentiles, Saint Paul, grant me such a powerful experience that it leads me to conversion.
Remove from me all hunger, thirst, and desire for anything of this world! Make me blind to the fleeting pleasures and fashions of this dark world, and open my eyes, my ears, and my heart to the things from above—to what the Lord has had for me for so long, but which I had no interest in.
Now I want it, Lord: You may give me in abundance life, love, grace, joy, blessing, strength, holiness… Everything You wish to give me—I am open!
Alleluia! I want to give You thanks, my God, for granting me so many gifts and for giving me the grace to return, to be reconciled with You, to settle accounts and wash my life at the foot of the cross. Glory for Your sacrifice, for all that You went through to save me. It was not in vain, and I want to make it worthwhile. Now it is for real, Lord! I will not turn back again! Blessed be our Lord Jesus Christ; exalted be His name. To You be honor, glory, and worship forever. Amen!”

 
“Through the tender mercy of our God, by which the dawn from on high will visit us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)

May, in the power of God’s love, we take upon ourselves each day the grace that Christ won for us on the Cross. May we not be discouraged by trials, tribulations, pressures, oppression, or any kind of depression, but may the certainty of this love lead us to establish heaven here on earth—even without understanding.

May God bless us and give us strength to persevere until the end.

**Translated and adapted from Brazilian Portuguese from my other blog vounessadirecao.blogspot.com.

Original post written in 2015.